When Ash Rogers left school early at the age of 16, he never thought he would one day end up leading a team to build a record-breaking 189m bridge across the Hooker River using materials and equipment flown in by helicopter.
But that is exactly what has happened for the boy from Christchurch, as he and his team from Abseil Access recently completed construction of the Hooker Valley Suspension Bridge in Mt Cook/Aoraki National Park.
“I’m super stoked. I never would have imagined that I would go from being a high school dropout to building the biggest suspension bridge in New Zealand,” Ash says.
After starting out as a mechanic working on cars and heavy equipment, he decided he fancied some adventure and worked a few seasons on ski fields, before an uncle suggested rope access work as a pathway into working outdoors on civil infrastructure projects.
That nudge led him to Abseil Access 10 years ago, where he’s been ever since, initially cutting his teeth supporting the Kaikōura earthquake recovery by scaling slopes to blast rocks weighing hundreds of tonnes threatening the safety of State Highway 1.
As Ash developed his geotechnical skills, he found himself leading an eight-month project clearing rockfalls to ensure safe travel along a coastal ring road in American Samoa, then helping to build the iconic Hugo Bridge along the Lake Dunstan Trail walking and cycle way.
With a boom in cycle tourism in 2009 needing more gaps to be spanned than ever, Ash says the bridge building side of his role really took off. He became the go-to person to lead the projects, starting with the award-winning Nile River Bridge along the Kawatiri Coastal Trail.
Ash says nothing quite prepared him for the challenges involved with becoming the site supervisor on the recent Hooker Valley Suspension Bridge project, which was required to replace an old bridge that had become unsafe due to riverbank erosion.
“After all these years of building bridges … almost every part of this project was harder and more complex than anything I’ve ever done before. We were pushing the limits of what you could do out there.”
Snow was falling on 18 August last year when Ash first arrived on site around 760m above sea level and started navigating the intense planning required on a project where everything had to be flown in by helicopter: from fuel and concrete to drill rigs and excavators.
“When you’re working at the limits of what’s possible, you need to maximise efficiencies like how much the helicopter can lift and what you can do. There’s so much thought that goes into it and I really do love that challenge of making things work.”
Over the Christmas holiday period, disaster struck when Ash broke his leg canyoning and was told by a doctor that he wouldn’t be able to walk properly for two years.
Ash says he wasn’t going to let that stop him. His team stepped up to help, taking care of all the physical tasks he couldn’t do so he could concentrate on managing the complex details required to complete the project.
“I was back on site a week or two later walking on crutches. I had to get plates and screws to bolt my leg back together, and I thought: ‘I’ve been waiting years for this project to come to fruition. I want to be there’.”
He says it was tough for his team, spending time away from their families and loved ones, working 10 days on and four days off, while he would only take a couple of days off every two weeks.
“We’d drive to our staging area in the mornings and then it was a six- or seven-kilometre half-an-hour walk to work each morning, rain or shine, or snow.”
It was all worth it when the bridge opened on 28 July, with Ash working until six o’clock the evening before to install the art panels and add the final touches so it was all ready.
Ash says he knew the project was “epic”, but being so absorbed in it made him forget how much of a difference it would make to the New Zealanders and tourists who could now use the bridge to walk the full Hooker Valley Track safely again.
“Seven Sharp called wanting to know about it, and the Timaru Herald, then my old high school teachers reached out to me. That made me realise how important the project is. People are so excited about it.”
He says giving 100 per cent to his work is “super important” to him and has helped develop his career, and knowing his family was proud to see the finished project mentioned on the news was a great feeling.
Now aged 38, Ash says all the skills he picked up since he left school have helped him get where he is and encourages people considering careers in civil construction to learn as much as possible from whatever role they find themselves in.
“You just have no idea where you’re going to end up. Try and take something from everything that you do, whether it’s social skills from your first job at a supermarket or Bunnings, because you can apply them all the way along your career.”
Building epic infrastructure makes his work “super rewarding”, he says.
“I love civil construction. I love all the challenges and building stuff that’s there for a long time that contributes to New Zealand as a whole, as well as its small communities.”
Inspired by Ash’s story? A career in civil construction could take you places you’ve never dreamed of. Discover exciting career opportunities by exploring our Infrastructure Careers Roadmap.
